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Natural Born Killers
Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
1994 · Directed by Oliver Stone · 119 min · Crime · Thriller · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 15 frames
Tagline
The media made them superstars.
Plot
Mickey Knox and his wife Mallory stop at a diner in the New Mexico desert. A duo of rednecks arrive and begin sexually harassing Mallory as she dances by a jukebox. She initially encourages it before beating one of the men viciously. Mickey joins her, and the couple murder everyone in the diner, save one customer, to whom they proudly declare their names before leaving. The couple camp in the desert, and Mallory reminisces about how she met Mickey, a meat deliveryman who serviced her family's household. After a whirlwind romance, Mickey is arrested for grand theft auto and sent to prison; he escapes and returns to Mallory's home. The couple murders Mallory's sexually abusive father and neglectful mother, but spare the life of Mallory's little brother, Kevin. The couple then have an unofficial marriage ceremony on a bridge.
Later, Mickey and Mallory hold a woman hostage in their hotel room. Angered by Mickey's desire for a threesome, Mallory leaves, and Mickey rapes the hostage. Mallory drives to a nearby gas station, where she flirts with a mechanic. They begin to have sex on the hood of a car, but after Mallory suffers a flashback of being raped by her father, and the mechanic recognizes her as a wanted murderer, Mallory kills him. The pair continue their killing spree, ultimately claiming 52 victims in New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. Pursuing them is detective Jack Scagnetti, who became obsessed with mass murderers at the age of eight after having witnessed the murder of his mother at the hand of Charles Whitman. Beneath his heroic façade, he is also a violent psychopath and has murdered prostitutes in his past. Following the pair's murder spree is self-serving tabloid journalist Wayne Gale, who profiles them on his show American Maniacs, soon elevating them to cult-hero status.
Mickey and Mallory become lost in the desert after taking psychedelic mushrooms, and they stumble upon a ranch owned by Warren Red Cloud, a Navajo man who provides them food and shelter. As Mickey and Mallory sleep, Warren, sensing evil in the couple, attempts to exorcise the demon that he perceives in Mickey, chanting over him as he sleeps. Mickey, who has nightmares of his abusive parents, awakens during the exorcism and shoots Warren to death. As the couple flee, they feel inexplicably guilty and come across a giant field of rattlesnakes, where they are badly bitten. They reach a drugstore to purchase snakebite antidote, but the store is sold out. A pharmacist recognizes the couple and triggers an alarm before Mickey kills him. Police arrive shortly after and accost the couple and a shootout ensues. The police end the showdown by beating the couple while a news crew films the action.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Richard Rutowski, Oliver Stone, David Veloz
- Cinematography: Robert Richardson
- Edited by: Brian Berdan, Hank Corwin
- Music: Brent Lewis
- Production design: Victor Kempster
- Produced by: Clayton Townsend, Don Murphy, Jane Hamsher
Cast
- Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox
- Juliette Lewis as Mallory Knox
- Robert Downey Jr. as Wayne Gale
- Tommy Lee Jones as Warden Dwight McClusky
- Tom Sizemore as Det. Jack Scagnetti
- Rodney Dangerfield as Mallory's Dad
- Edie McClurg as Mallory's Mom
- Jared Harris as London Boy
- Russell Means as Old Indian
- Maria Pitillo as Deborah
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Navajo, Japanese
- Studios: Warner Bros. Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Alcor Films, Ixtlan Productions
- Budget: $34,000,000
- Box office: $110,000,000
- Themes: daughter, journalist, sadistic, mass murder, yellow press, pop culture, trauma, controversy, satire, young couple
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